By Maggie Mancini
2025 has been marked by prolonged uncertainty, a stagnant employment market, and rapid. AI adoption. While the hiring market will likely soften in the new year, low turnover, declining engagement, and a focus on skills rather than traditional experience will continue to challenge the workforce. As companies prepare for the new year, here are four trends that HR leaders are anticipating in 2026.
PREDICTION ONE: As the employment market begins to thaw, many organizations will continue to choose headcount stability over expansion.
Research from ZipRecruiter finds 75.8% of employers cite retention as their top priority for 2026, far outweighing recruitment and replacement. With hiring at a standstill, employees are reticent to leave, explains Josh Bersin, global industry analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company.
“For as long as the economy slows, this will continue, and hiring managers are just going to find it harder to attract skilled professionals,” Bersin adds. Regardless of market conditions, taking care of, training, and engaging employees in meaningful work is always an important strategy, because the time and cost of hiring can result in six months to a year of a new employees’ salary.
“Retention should always be a top priority for an organization, but in this climate it’s even more important,” says Lydia Wilson, chief people officer at Dexian. “During the recruiting process, HR leaders need to look at how potential candidates will integrate within a generationally diverse company culture, and leaders will be looking at how the company’s culture can prioritize the needs of individuals wherever they are in their career journey.”
Industry trends indicate that organizations will increasingly prioritize career advancement, skills development, and upskilling, particularly in the context of AI, adds Maggie Driscoll, chief people and culture officer at Blackbaud. This shift may lead to fewer new hires and greater investment in talent development.
Purpose-driven organizations that offer meaningful work, flexibility, and opportunities to grow will continue to stand out, says Terilyn Monroe, chief people officer at Guardant Health. Culture, leadership, and employee experience will remain competitive differentiators in attracting top talent.
“For companies, I believe sourcing talent will get easier thanks to AI-powered tools. However, hiring the right candidate may become more challenging,” Monroe says. “Today’s applicants can use AI to quickly refresh their resumes with language aligned to a company’s posted job description. While we may see an uptick in applicant volume, ensuring we have a strong interview process and building manager capability to assess candidates will be key.”
This is the moment for HR leaders to get ahead by building skills-centered systems, says Annie Rosencrans, director of people and culture at HiBob. That means investing in internal talent marketplaces, creating learning pathways, and using AI to match people with opportunities.
“The next great hiring wave won’t be defined by how many people join your company but by how well your people can grow, adapt, and thrive within it,” Rosencrans says. “We’re not waiting for a rebound. We’re witnessing a reset.”
PREDICTION TWO: AI adoption will expand, and HR leaders need to clearly communicate and empower employees to embrace AI strategy.
There has been a lot of discussion about the type of impact that AI is having—or will have soon—on job security, displacement, and the future of work. Yet, employees at different levels of the workforce are experiencing these concerns in a variety of ways.
Certain types of work like call centers, schedulers, IT support, and help desk workers are highly vulnerable to structural change from AI, Bersin says. Marketing writers, video editors, and other creatives may need to upskill. Even analytics jobs—like data analysts or software engineers—face an increased risk of task automation.
The real concern is about readiness, rather than vulnerability, says Jenny Shiers, chief people officer at Unily. The company’s research shows that while 77% of CEOs believe AI will usher in a new business era, over half of enterprises lack an AI policy, and a third of employees have never used AI at work.
“We believe a new breed of what we call ‘supermanagers’ are needed, and that means focusing on helping people learn about AI, experiment, and invent,” Bersin says. “AI innovation is now part of every job, so managers need to be ready to help their teams reinvent their jobs. And, as AI reduces routine work, every employee needs to be more business savvy so they can focus on bigger, more complex value-add activities.”
Upskilling and continuous learning should be at the forefront of every organization’s growth and development strategy, says Eric Tinch, chief people officer at Sutherland. The company subscribes to the “human in the loop” strategy where tech-enabled solutions and AI work together to expand human capabilities. This means providing defined learning journeys for every level of the organization that emphasize core skills, tech adoption, and shifting repetitive tasks to tech-enabled solutions.
“Jobs have always been threatened by progress,” Wilson says. “From the industrial revolution to bots and software, there has always been talk about efficiency, effectiveness, and job displacement. As machines do more, companies will require more human skills, and most notably empathy, compassion, creativity, judgment, and communication.”
Research from Dexian finds 92% of employers and 94% of employees believe human skills like communication, creativity, and emotional intelligence will matter more as AI adoption grows. It’s more about evolution than elimination, she says.
“Employees want to hear clear communication about a company’s AI strategy and how it potentially affects them, Wilson says. “They need to understand the way that their human skills are being developed to face future changes.”